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USS Melbourne
There were at least two Federation starships to be named Melbourne. Both of them fought and were destroyed at the Battle of Wolf 359. USS Melbourne (NCC-62043) The USS Melbourne (NCC-62043) was an ''Excelsior''-class Federation starship in operation in the 24th century. The Melbourne was one of three ships docked at Starbase 74 during the [[USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D)|USS Enterprise-D]]'s upgrade there in 2364. When the Enterprise was hijacked by a group of Bynars, the Melbourne was unable to pursue due to her repair status. The station's CO, Orfil Quinteros, initated a rush repair schedule to get the vessel ready for pursuit, but the situation was resolved before the Melbourne was flight-ready. (TNG: "11001001") The Melbourne was a part of the Federation task force that stood against an invading Borg cube at the Battle of Wolf 359. The Melbourne was one of the first ships to engage, and one of the first ships to be lost, its saucer section destroyed by the Borg cutting beams. (DS9: "Emissary"; VOY: "Unity") Lieutenant Gregory Bergan was among the Melbourne's crew at that time. (VOY: "Infinite Regress) Footage of the assimilation of the ''Melbourne was reused in the "flashback" memory sequence in "Unity" (VOY).'' NCC-62043 is the highest recorded registry seen so far on an ''Excelsior-class starship.'' USS Melbourne (Nebula-class) The second USS ''Melbourne'' was a prototype ''Nebula''-class Federation starship. In 2366, William Riker was offered command of the Melbourne, but declined the post to remain aboard the Enterprise-D. (TNG: "The Best of Both Worlds, Part I") This Melbourne was also a part of the Federation task force that stood against an invading Borg cube at the Battle of Wolf 359. Like the first Melbourne, it was destroyed. (TNG: "The Best of Both Worlds, Part II"; DS9: "Emissary) When the Enterprise-D arrived in the system a few hours later, the wreck of the Melbourne was one of the vessels recognized by Commander Shelby. (TNG: "The Best of Both Worlds, Part II") A dedication model of the Melbourne was later seen in a holo-simulation of the ready room of the Enterprise-D. (TNG: "Future Imperfect"). Background This is highly unusual: two Melbourne''s were seen at the Battle of Wolf 359. The reason for this was that the ''Melbourne was originally intended to be a prototype ''Nebula''-class vessel - a study model was built by Ed Miarecki and was filmed as part of the debris field in "The Best of Both Worlds, Part II", but the ship's name and registry were not visible. When the battle was written into "Emissary", the Melbourne was slated to be destroyed on camera. As a result, the producers chose the more detailed Excelsior-class model, and labeled it with the same registry number used on the Nebula version. This ended up being clearly visible onscreen. However, a dedication model of the Nebula-class model with the name and registry of the Melbourne was seen later in "Future Imperfect", and the model was seen again in "Emissary". A possible explaination for the two Melbourne''s could be that the ''Excelsior-class Melbourne was a recently retired ship, temporarily recommisioned for the Battle of Wolf 359, and the Nebula-class ship was newly commisioned as a replacement for the Excelsior-class ship. Since the Excelsior-class ship's registry was clearly defined as NCC-62043, we will assume that the Nebula-class ship's registry is unknown. Both ships were named after the Australian city. Melbourne de:USS Melbourne es:USS Melbourne nl:USS Melbourne